Prevention No Cure: A Critique of the Report of Australia's National Preventative Health Taskforce
View/ Open
Author(s)
Harrison, Mark
Robson, Alex
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2011
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Australia's National Preventative Health Taskforce baulks at the economic approach to public policy that weighs up costs and benefits, and instead adopts a 'healthist' perspective, with an open-ended and unconditional commitment to maximising health and a jumbling of private and external costs. The result is to overstate the benefits, and ignore the costs, of proposed policies. While this is predictable given the interests and agenda of preventative health advocates, it is not desirable. Not only is the economic approach mandated for regulatory reform, it has a number of advantages in determining the likely effects of policies ...
View more >Australia's National Preventative Health Taskforce baulks at the economic approach to public policy that weighs up costs and benefits, and instead adopts a 'healthist' perspective, with an open-ended and unconditional commitment to maximising health and a jumbling of private and external costs. The result is to overstate the benefits, and ignore the costs, of proposed policies. While this is predictable given the interests and agenda of preventative health advocates, it is not desirable. Not only is the economic approach mandated for regulatory reform, it has a number of advantages in determining the likely effects of policies and identifying unintended consequences. Although the Taskforce emphasises the irrationality of consumers, it is not clear whether a preventative health bureaucracy will improve the efficiency of health spending.
View less >
View more >Australia's National Preventative Health Taskforce baulks at the economic approach to public policy that weighs up costs and benefits, and instead adopts a 'healthist' perspective, with an open-ended and unconditional commitment to maximising health and a jumbling of private and external costs. The result is to overstate the benefits, and ignore the costs, of proposed policies. While this is predictable given the interests and agenda of preventative health advocates, it is not desirable. Not only is the economic approach mandated for regulatory reform, it has a number of advantages in determining the likely effects of policies and identifying unintended consequences. Although the Taskforce emphasises the irrationality of consumers, it is not clear whether a preventative health bureaucracy will improve the efficiency of health spending.
View less >
Journal Title
Agenda
Volume
18
Issue
2
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2011. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. For information about this journal please refer to the journal’s website or contact the authors.
Subject
Applied economics
Health economics
Public economics - taxation and revenue
Banking, finance and investment
Policy and administration